I was re-watching Downton Abbey recently (thank you Netflix) and apart from wishing we had fashion like they did back then (and ignoring the fact that I would likely have been downstairs, not showing off my suffragette trousers upstairs) I do appreciate that the women on that show get involved in social issues, albeit in the most glamorous way possible. So when I realised that this week is refugee week (what a segue) I thought I’d take a leaf from Lady Rose’s book and share some resources, although perhaps more practical than her buying cake for the refugees.
On a serious note, this is a complicated topic that causes a lot of debate here in Australia, while people’s lives are being affected. I’d planned to regularly share links I’d found interesting, so thought I’d start here with a roundup of some articles and websites I’ve found interesting and enlightening on what can be a controversial topic.
This site has more information about refugees in Australia, and refugee week specifically.
Common Grace has several articles and I like the call in this one to do our part, especially in living your belief, if you are also Christian.
Another from Common Grace, from someone who has experienced attacks on their own homeland.
This was from a couple of years ago but still relevant, from Tim Winton.
I enjoyed reading this article a few weeks ago, about doing something practical. The comments were a mix of positive reactions and the opinion that the writer took in a refugee to get an article out of it, so with the knowledge that young adults actually can care about social issues without doing it for fame, I’m sharing this from the Guardian UK.
Lastly, teaching poetry has given me an appreciation of spoken word poems and this is a powerful piece about the stigma refugees can face.
I realise that acting on our values is easier said than done, something I wrestled with during the busyness of first year teaching, after I’d gone from tutoring refugee students to zero community work. If you are in a position to volunteer, the program I tutored through was Live and Learn and there are other opportunities through Save the Children and other organisations throughout Australia.
